Name: Sarah and Megan
Location: Jamaica Plain, MA
Size: 1000 Square Feet
Years lived in: Rented for 2+ years
Walking into Sarah and Megan's apartment is an experience of creativity in motion. They are good friends of ours so we get to walk through their door often and each time we're welcomed by some variant of art in process — whether it's Sarah cooking an amazing meal or Megan making decorations from found materials for their next house celebration (which are frequent and always festive)... 
(Sarah and Megan hosted the clothing swap we blogged about recently.) Sarah and Megan are also good friends with each other. It's unusual to get to see a house tour of two co-habitating friends. Most tours reflect spaces lived in by couples, families or single folks. We're constantly amazed by how seamlessly these two friends have blended their stuff and their style into one delightful apartment...
There are many things we love about Sarah and Megan's home but these are our favorite elements: every nook holds a visual surprise; most of the things in their home are secondhand; their brilliantly creative use of found objects; the space feels SO lived in, not staged or polished; the perfect rhythm of bright colors grounded by aged and loved neutrals; and the ease with which they can shift the space to accommodate large groups of friends and newcomers, which they do all the time.
We're sure that there will be those of you who find their space to have too much stuff, unlike many of the more streamlined homes found on AT, but we challenge you to see the spirit of the space. Sarah and Megan, artists in their own right (see links below to some of their activities), have created a visually and spiritually vibrant home that reflects their equally vibrant and dynamic personalities. We feel lucky to count this among the places we get to spend cherished time.
AT SURVEY
Style
Sarah: Modern meets weird old junk and delightful nothings... though I would say that the modern part would be more present if I had a little more money.
Megan: Yeah, I often feel the push-pull of my desire for a sleek mid-century modern living room (as featured in 60s National Geographic ads) and my Victorian magpie tendencies.
Inspiration
Sarah: Ray and Charles Eames and cabinets of curiosity.
Megan: Ditto.
Favorite Element
Sarah: I love the wing back chair in my kitchen. The kitchen is the center of my universe so I like to be cozy and comfortable sitting there.
Megan: I quite enjoy our ginormous curiosities, especially the big medical illustrations and the early 20th century collections cabinet in the entryway. In the latter, most of the drawers hold files and supplies, but one actually stays true to its original label — open it up and you’ll find two dozen pinned Costa Rican butterflies, collected by a friend.
Biggest Challenge
Sarah: To try to keep the house from being too cluttered.
Megan: Having chairs in my bedroom and not allowing clothes to loiter in them. I’ve got to keep an open chair for Elijah, so to speak.
What Friends Say
Sarah: Some say it is highly curated, others find our stuff curious and exciting, everyone loves the pachinko machine in the living room, some find it cluttered, many love the pantry. Most importantly to me, most say they feel welcome and comfortable in our home.
Megan: Some friends like to play the “Guess who’s stuff this is?” game when they visit. Even our closest friends can’t always tell the difference between Sarah’s weird stuff and my weird stuff; our collected lives blend quite nicely.
Biggest Embarrassment
Sarah: How very, very messy I can be especially in my bed room. What hides under my bed and explodes out of my closet.
Megan: Exposed extension cords — I’ve got to tack those down someday.
Proudest DIY
Sarah: Cutting apart an old futon to make 3 covered cushions to lounge around on, build forts with and most functionally make a really comfortable guest bed. (they are green and in our living room in a stack)
Megan: Melting the ice off a 2’x8’ we had been using as a back porch garden bench and repurposing it as a low bookshelf in my bedroom to tame my current rotation of books. It works pretty nicely, dressed up with remainder paint from Yumont Hardware ($4) and propped up on stacks of 1970s era Popular Mechanics encyclopedias which — let’s face it — I wasn’t referencing anyway.
Biggest Indulgence
Sarah: All my kitchen appliances, my sewing machine and my cookbooks, I value great tools and resources over any other object.
Megan: Beer brewing tools and supplies, though my hydrometer is not half as pretty as Sarah’s mixer. And toys — I'm into miniatures (a Playmobil girl at heart).
Best advice
Sarah: If you are going to paint the walls, get them painted by someone who knows how to do it right, it makes all the difference. Also, consider painting the ceiling at the same time, it is a pain in the neck, but it cleans and brightens up the room in an amazing way.
Megan: I don’t want to let the cat totally out of the bag, but check out the North End trash. Amazing things emerge from the “dirt” (as my then-neighbor called it) on trash night. When I lived there, I once found a perfect red Victorian-style settee on my doorstep. It’s eerie how easy it is.
Dream Source
Sarah: The trash and friends that are moving.
Megan: The trash, definitely — my mattress is the only furniture item I’ve ever bought retail. For cool, odd, low-cost stuff — everything from cast-off film reels to pretty samples of designer fabric — check out the Recycle Shop at Boston Children’s Museum, which is great for party decorations, too. As far as curiosities go, I have to recommend Egleston Square’s Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute, which, full disclosure, I designed. It has all the unicorn tears, sea serpent oil, and Thomas Paul-style Bigfoot melamine “camp plates” you’ll need. Best of all, all proceeds go to 826Boston, the innovative youth writing lab.
Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Nomade Express Slee...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
How to Make Buckwheat Soba Noodles from Scratch
Awww. Fun people live here.
I absolutely love the reading area in the kitchen. More kitchens should have a couple of comfy chairs where you can peruse cookbooks and drink tea and talk with the cook. This home feels like a celebration of domestic joy, and even if the colours aren't necessarily mine, I still totally appreciate the spirit and life that just shines out of these pictures.
I agree with Juliet - the chairs in the kitchen are amazing! Everything about this place just screams 'home' to be. What a brilliant house tour.
I like this. They've managed to meld a lot of different things together and keep it all very fresh and energetic through their artistic eyes - color, art and other visuals, object placement. For instance, that wonderful art in the first photo--a bird of some sort (I'd love to hang that on my wall)--along with the colorful and interesting rug and the white window covering keeps the room, which could have been dark, heavy, and dowdy, very light and upbeat. The photo quality of the space seems to be really good too, which makes a huge difference.
do they need a roommate?
I swear those photos emit a homey smell!
even though this is just a leeetle bit too much stuff for me, i just adore their space. i want to come over and hang out there for a while! :)
The kitchen looks like a fun place to hang out and cook, chat, read, listen to music.
What a lovely apartment! Can I come over sometime? I will bring cookies and treats! :)
Oh, your house looks so cozy and inviting. I want to come over and visit. Seeing this house makes me rethink my desire to steer away from bright colors in my new apartment. Which brings me to a question... How do you marry a neutral, cool color environment with minimal accents of warm, bright colors?
I like it for what it is - except for the crepe paper streamers and tissue paper dots on the walls....
I love the large space. I really like the living room... the kitchen is different but not my style. I can tell these ladies have fun entertaining. Cool
Every once in a while there's an AP Boston post that totally incites my Boston-homesickness (I was only there for a couple of years of grad school, but still...it WOULD be my home, if it were feasible).
This is one of them. How I miss my old JP triple decker, which wasn't nearly as adorable as Sarah and Megan's, though almost as bright.
Also, Kyle, I really appreciate that you've featured a roommate situation. It's so inspiring to see people who live together who've managed to make their shared surroundings mutually appealing. Often it's so easy just to give up, aesthetically speaking, on shared space.
Oh, how I miss those beautiful Boston apartments! And my wonderful roommates. Sniff! Boston is full of just these types of cool people with lovely homes. You can just tell these ladies lead a fun life. I may have to look into chairs in the kitchen. Right now I have some lurking there because we are doing a little renovating, but I might rethink arranging and keeping them. Brilliant. Can you share the yellow-y paint in one of the bedrooms? It's very fresh and soothing despite it not being the expected pale neutral or spa blue. Love!
Wow, that's a ton of stuff! I would hate to dust all that, but it looks fantastic!! Super homey, love it.
All it's lacking is adequate seating.
Although I'd likely feel overwhelmed living with this much stuff (including vintage foundation garments) out in the open, I really do feel the warmth and creativity and welcoming homey spirit of this place. There's something exuberant, sweet and playful about it and it feels very authentic. Ideally, if home is the place where you can be your true self, then this home succeeds, even if it's not to everyone's taste. Plus, love the idea of Elijah's chair. And KTG: your "unconventional grapefruit" commentary = priceless.
I'm a little overstimulated by parts of the house, but I love the fact that I can tell that fun people live here! I'd like to be a guest in their home. :)
This place makes me feel better about my stuff which some feel is too cluttered. I love this place, totally cosy.
Very cosy home! I want to live here or at least take away half of the stuff to my home! ;)
I love that they used different seat cushions for their dining room chairs...good idea! :))))))))))))
Jen Ramos
'Cards & Prints You'll Love...'
www.madebygirl.com
madebygirl.blogspot.com
Please. Please. Please...source for that awesome red & pink rug. I am in lust.
This is so cute, and such a 'home' too. Love it!
It's cute and nice, it looks homey and I really like the colour choice but there is just a bit too much ''things'' for me.
...The bathroom soap hands creep me out a bit... :-/
What a fun, quirky home! I think this home is proof positive that you can take a large assortment of disparate items and get them work well together in the creation of a beautiful and functional space.
Lovely place. Seems a little cluttered and overfurnished - but I bet it's a nice place to hang out.
Okay this is going to sound really creepy (I promise I'm not!), but I am pretty sure I have seen your apartment on my walk home from the T !(I live on Robinwood Ave). I recognize the orange paper hanging from the light in the dining room! And I always wondered to myself what that was. Your place always seemed so cute and inviting to me, especially the wall color in the kitchen. So I promise that I'm not spying on you, and I really love your place. Go JP!
I love this house-it's cozy, quirky and bright. I'm also interested in the red and pink rug. Where's it from?
This is great. Though I don't like every piece and item here (but most), that's not really the point, is it? Great creativity and sense of humor; very cozy and welcoming. Looks like the sort of place you can relax and enjoy your life at home, enjoy the company of friends. Something that is missing from a lot of top-ranked designs. Often we're guilty of trying to make our homes look too serious and formal, like *serious voice* real grown ups.
I'm sure the person ^ who called your stuff "junk" meant it in the nicest way possible. They meant to say "stuff."
Oh, and... 12 pairs of scissors? Maybe that's a solution I should try to never being able to find my 1 pair. =D
Nice! This reminds me of when I had a roommate in a little house in the Houston Heights - somehow our stuff meshed really well, as did our personalities. I can tell the people who live here are fun and creative.
This tour has left me more inspired than any other tour on this site! Please don't take these comments as backhanded compliments, but I would love to create my home in a similar style EXCEPT that I feel like it would be a nightmare to clean. I have a tendency to get rid of anything that might be considered clutter. This space, though, is exactly what it is about a place that makes me happy. Thank you!
This place is so unique and interesting. A lot of stuff, and I would hate to dust, but it looks so lived in and welcoming. I have a tendency to have to much stuff too, but you seem to make it work. Nice!
http://www.makemineeclectic.wordpress.com
Love the pink and red propeller rug in the LR. Where did you get it?
Beautiful space overall. Thanks.
Go JP! I live in jp, and I love seeing Boston AT post about my neighborhood. Excellent space, ladies.
For those who asked, I knew I recognized the rug in the living room, it's a floor mat made by Koko Company: http://www.kokocompany.com/
Whoa, only meant to bold a few words, sorry.
The Koko Company floormat is great becasue it is reversible, can be used indoors or outdoors and cleans up super easy if there is a spill: http://pillowsandthrows.com/kc01422.html
I have the privilege of knowing and loving these ladies. They throw the best dinner parties ever, as you can imagine. I'm glad to see their creativity reaching more appreciators via the world wide web. My only complaint is that the writer did us all a disservice by not taking pictures of their back porch, which I guess is probably not in top form in February, but in the spring, it's very sweet and a great place for a casual candle-lit dinner.
Also, I'm glad to see the staghorn fern is still alive!
Kisses from Oakland, ladies! I miss you mightily!
Definitely interesting with the use of so many different materials, objects, and styles. Neat kitchen for sure.
But, the cluttttter.
Your home makes me happy. Happy is good.
I wish I'd had Sara and Megan's style back when I lived in J.P. This is definitely the kind of place that makes you want to promise anything to get an invite. . . and I do mean anything. :-)
thanks for info on 2nd rug, but where is the first carpet pictured from? thanks for sharing your home.
Good for you....for collecting used furniture and other necessities. The clutter of the little stuff is the part that bothers me personally, but that's o.k. The BEST part about the house?....your seating area in the KITCHEN...SO COOL!
Awesome place -- you guys have personality, creativity, and real style! In particular, kudos on all the color you use.
I love seeing a place that doesn't adhere to cookie-cutter modern style but instead takes chances and makes them work. Thanks so much for sharing.
Do you know anything about the origin of your dining room chairs (and table if it matches)...they look almost identical to my great grandparent's set that my mother now has.... They still have the original chair coverings, pea green velour floral pattern...ick.
Lovely and brilliantly put together considering the sources for materials. Looks like two girls I'd love to hang out with!
Isn't this how everyone lives in their early 20's?
Except for the creepy hand soaps that look like they amputated baby arms. My friends had mannequin heads or arms or bottom halves, or dress forms. One had doll heads. for some reason, mixing adult and baby appendages is creapy.
I called the rug manufacturer...you can order from them directly on theirother site at kokotrends.com
Yay!
an evocative space with EXCELLENT hand soaps! love em.
I really like this place! Love the color, the stuff, everything -- very homey. Ok, I don't like the hand soaps though. Thanks for sharing!
hi, i love you can i please move in! your place is so homey...sigh.
I love it!
Cozy , warm eclectic and unpretentious.
Clutter? Am I missing something? This appealing, artistic apartment doesn't seem that cluttered to me! I love modern minimalism but it can be taken way too far - in the direction of sterility and utter lack of imagination. The chair and ottoman in the kitchen are brilliant.
Wow, this place is awesome and I'll second that it's the most inspiring AT post I've seen. Not only have Megan and Sarah been able to combine their things and make it look fun, cool, hip and creative. I love that they don't have "generic" furniture that you can find at a chain store and their ideas and colors make this a home. Unlike everyone else, I don't think the place is cluttered, I think it highlights their finds and personalities. I'm sick of seeing modern furniture is giant, sterile rooms, yawn! Love, Love, Love, fabulous jobs Ladies!
It's fun, it's quirky, it's incredibly interesting, it's cluttered, it's PERFECT. Thanks for sharing! :)
This place reminds me of my old roommates and my old apartment. It was much smaller, so it looked way more cluttered, but we had the same sort of style and friends always said the same thing when they came over: that they could look around our place for hours and still find something new and interesting to look at. We are both huge thrift/rummage sale shoppers so we'd always be bringing home weird old things that ended up somewhere in the house.
The big city plan map in the kitchen really caught my eye as we had taken a book of city planning maps we'd found at a garage sale and framed them all and put them in the bathroom!
It was such a great home and this one looks like just that.
What is sacrificed for cozy, homeyness is best use of space, editing for clutter and random compulsive collecting. You just can't have both. It's hard for me to appreciate, simply because just having something because I like it with little regard for its neighbors (what it will be cramped against or forced to visually copulate with) is to jarring to live with.
However, I do respect those who can live and share that kind of fecklessness. Kudos. I am also amazed at the many posts that find an affinity with this school of decorating and living.
The floors are gorgeous!!!!
I appreciate this space a lot. You can tell a lot about the women who live here and I imagine they would be a riot to hang out with. The rug in the living room makes it for me and I agree with sitting down reading cookbooks in the kitchen. Great stuff, ladies!
Love, love, love! Reminds me of my friends' places in Nashville -- artists all.
Please share -- what is the red paint? Perfect.
Alittle to much "stuff" for me but very homey and def has style and creativity. I dont like the streamers in D/R area, JMO. I love the splashes of pink through out. Looks like a cool fun place. I dont really dig the chairs in the kitchen.
Of all the abodes I have seen over the course of the one year I have been subscribing, I have to say that this is the one place that I have most appreciated being shown. This home has so much style. It is said to be a bit on the cluttered side but this is realistic. Seeing all those stylized homes, while pretty, they just do not resonate. This home belongs to two individuals with their own possessions and sense of style and to see these two personalities merge into one household is what so many of us are trying to accomplish. It is easy to have a streamlined place when living alone, when able to afford a series of matching shelves or Danish furniture(retro or new) or lucky enough to live among built-ins. When trying to combine households, there is a huge challenge and Sarah and Megan took it on and conquered it. These are two women with interesting possessions. There are stories to be told of their acquisitions. So many homes I have seen look like they were staged and everything purchased in one shipment from one store at one time. Though that may not be the case, they are vapid though remaining very pretty and airy. This place is comfy, beautiful, colorful, alive, has stories to tell, inviting, creative, cohesive and it is everything I want my home to be. Frankly, in my experince, those with a little more stuff are a little more interesting and have a little more personality and interests than those with only the necessary decor. These are not hoarders but geez, there sure are alot of stuffaphobes. I see them having as much stuff as most people I visit but more than a staged home for sale.
I love the rug. But has anyone has any experience with this type of rug? Does it feel like a plastic yoga mat or does it feel at all rug-like. There's a lot of cool mats out there but I'm hesitant to use them for any real living space.
Too much going on - doesn't feel "clean" to me (soiled chairs).
There is some nice stuff - I'm just overwhelmed looking for it.
What a great place to hang out. It almost seems like a very cool coffee shop. I couldn't live there, though, but you can't deny it's a loved space. Plus, I love the duvet cover in Megan's bedroom.
This is awesome. I love homes that have a nice flow but look like people live there.
Sort-of-related JP question: is it possible to find a home to purchase in JP or Fort Hill that hasn't been renovated up the ass?
I'm frequently going into people's (rented) apartments around here and seeing great period detail like built-ins and oldschool kitchens, but then when I look for something to buy, they've either renovated it extensively so that it's super-modern (and totally out of my price range), or they've ripped out the kitchen and closets and so forth and replaced it with cheap crappy Home Depot stuff like white laminate cabinets and those awful front doors with the oval fake stained glass panel. I can't remember the last time I saw anything for sale around here that even had the radiators still there and not replaced with baseboard convectors. Is there some special place I should be looking other than the MLS?
I'm not surprised to hear the roommates mention dumpster diving. Their apartment just looks like a random collection of mismatched "stuff" to me. But to each his own. As long as they enjoy their space, that's all that matters.
I'm not surprised to hear the roommates mention dumpster diving - BEWARE of bedbugs.